Born of Lightning
by noahmagnem121
Summary: It's been two years since the second Great Prophecy was fulfilled, and Nico di Angelo is enjoying the peace and quiet. But when a powerful new demigod appears at Camp Half-Blood, Nico is pulled into a chain of events that even the gods cannot control.
1. Zeus's Warning

**The summary doesn't say too much about this story, so I'll say it now: this fanfic takes place after the events of both the Percy Jackson **_**and **_**the Heroes of Olympus series. Mainly it centers around one of my all-time favourite characters, Nico di Angelo, and another new demigod, but Percy and Annabeth, and everyone else from the original series appear quite a lot. Remember to review!**

I stared out through the trees, towards the edge of the forest where we'd decided to camp for the night. The flaps of one of our silver tents flew open, and a dark head poked out from the opening. It was Phoebe, one of our best healers.

"Thalia?" she asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes. "What are you doing up? It's got to be past two in the morning."

She barely even needed to look up at the sky to determine the time anymore. Like all us Hunters, knowledge of the stars had become instinctive after a while.

"I couldn't sleep."

She nodded knowingly and came out to stand beside me. "Bad dreams?"

Phoebe, as a daughter of Ares, understood my problem. Every demigod has dreams, most of the time really bad ones, and mine were some of the worst. I don't know why Zeus felt the need to plague his children with nightmares.

"Is everyone else asleep?" I asked her.

"Except for you and me, yeah," she told me. "It's been a long day."

Truer words had never been spoken. We'd spent the entire week hunting down a group of _dracanae_ that had gone after a couple of unclaimed demigods in Virginia. We'd found the kids and sent for some satyrs to take them to Camp Half-Blood, but hunting the giant scaly jerks had taken a considerably longer time. We'd only managed to finish them off completely that afternoon.

"At least they're finally back where they belong," I said firmly. "In Tartarus."

"Maybe, but I'll be feeling the sting of their claws for weeks." She winced and rubbed her bandaged leg, where one of the _dracanae_ had slashed her. "You should go rest that," I told her. "You look dead on your feet."

Phoebe looked at me in concern. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'll come back inside in a few minutes. Go on."

She nodded, then trudged back inside the tent. A few moments later, I heard a muffled _whump _as she flopped down onto her sleeping mat. Knowing Phoebe, she'd be asleep in seconds.

I was a different story. It wasn't the adrenaline or the injuries that kept me awake - I'd been serving Artemis for almost six years now, and I'd had plenty of time to get used to that stuff. It was the dream that kept me awake - and how much stranger it had been than any of the others.

She had looked young, about fifteen or sixteen, and was wearing a gaunt and hungry expression. Her eyes were enormous and wild, and her surroundings were dark and creepy-looking. A deep voice had thundered through my mind when I saw her - and I knew that it was my dad Zeus speaking.

_Prepare yourself, Thalia. Turmoil awaits you._

That had been about when I woke up. After trying and failing to get back to sleep, I came outside to try and calm down. But even now, my head was buzzing, and I was no closer to getting some rest than I was to finding a camel somewhere in these woods. There had been loads of other dreams a lot more disturbing than this one, so why couldn't I forget it and go to sleep? And why did I get the feeling that the Lord of the Sky hadn't only been talking to me?

Then it came to me. Jason. Of course. If Zeus had sent the dream to me, it made sense that he would have sent it to my younger brother as well. It seemed logical that the only two children of the Lord of the Universe would have the same dream.

Setting down my bow and quiver, I turned and sprinted into the heart of the forest. The Hunters didn't choose their camping spots at random; there were a few criteria that had to be followed. Chief among them: we had to be near water. Not only because we'd die of thirst without it - that was kind of a no-brainer - but so we could talk easily to our families and friends.

A fine layer of mist lay over the small pond, sending tiny rainbows rippling off the surface of the water. "Oh Goddess, accept my offering." I told the pond. No, I wasn't crazy, though it probably looked that way.

I dug into my pocket, brought out one golden drachma, and tossed it into the pool. "Show me Jason Grace at Portus Aquilae."

The mist shimmered, and an image appeared on its surface. My little brother was standing in the middle of a coliseum, hacking at a straw dummy with his gladius. It felt strange to call him my _little_ brother when he looked older than I was - I'd stopped aging when I joined the Hunters the day before I turned sixteen. Jason was seventeen now, what Chiron would call a "young man". But I still thought of him as the two-year-old who'd tried to eat a stapler once.

He looked up from his work on the decapitated dummy and saw me. His eyes widened and his mouth split into a big smile. "Hey, Thalia! What's up?"

"Hey, little bro." It was impossible not to return his smile. "Not too much. We finally killed those _dracanae._"

"Yeah, the three demigods you found made it back to Camp Half-Blood okay. I was there when they got claimed."

I perked up instantly. Rose and I had a bet going on whose kids the three boys were. "Who were their parents?"

He counted on his fingers. "Casey was Hecate's son, Rex was Mercury - er, Hermes', and Allan was Athena's."

Dang it, I'd assumed Casey was a Morpheus boy. I guess I owed Rose twenty bucks. "Glad they're all safe. When did you get back to San Francisco?"

"We left Camp Half-Blood this morning. Piper, Leo, Percy and Annabeth are coming out in three weeks." His smile got wider when he said Piper's name.

Portus Aquilae was the Roman equivalent of Camp Half-Blood, and where Jason had learned all his demigod skills. Since the whole incident two years ago when the second Great Prophecy had been fulfilled, the ties between the two camps had grown much stronger. Jason traveled back and forth between them regularly - same with the rest of them who'd gone on the journey to Greece.

"I guess that means Leo and Hazel are still going strong, then?" I asked, grinning. Leo Valdez had met the daughter of a wind god in Portus Aquilae before going to Greece, and the two of them had fallen head over heels for each other on the trip. I was glad, because it meant that he would stop hitting on me.

Jason nodded. "God, you have no idea. They were stuck to each other like glue."

I stuck out my tongue. "Okay, thanks for putting _that_ mental image in my head."

He laughed. Then, "So, what's up? You can't be calling just to chat at this time of night."

I took a deep breath, stalling my answer. Jason noticed my reluctance and stared at me concernedly from behind golden blonde locks - he needed a haircut.

"Dad sent me a dream," I exhaled. Jason jerked his head up sharply. "I can't get it out of my head. It's really simple - just a girl, running from someone - or something." I cocked my head to the side. "You Romans haven't had any new campers, have you?"

Jason shook his head. "Well, there was that Mars kid who arrived about a week ago, but he's a boy. And the dream was sent to you, so the girl's probably fated to be a Hunter."

I thought that over. We took in lost girls all the time - the one I'd seen could easily become one of us. But I wasn't only a Hunter, I was also a demigod. And that meant only one thing.

"Dad said to prepare myself for turmoil," I told Jason. "Something big's going down with the demigods. And the Hunters need to be a part of it."

He nodded gravely. "Iris me when you know what's happening. I'll bring everyone over."

I put my hand on the surface of the water. He did the same from the other side, and the image rippled. "See you soon, hopefully."

"Take care of yourself, Thalia."

I waved my hand over the mist, and the Iris-message dissolved.

Trudging back to the camp, I made a decision. Finally figuring out something to do eased my mind, and I slept easily back on my bedroll for a couple hours, and there were no dreams this time.

The next morning, I woke up later than usual. The girls were all outside, probably waiting for me to come talk to them. After sliding my silver lieutenant's circlet over my forehead and packing up my bedroll, I pulled on my combat boots and breezed through the flaps of the tent.

The Hunters, stocking up their quivers and sharpening their daggers, looked up when I emerged. A slow smile spread over my face when I saw their eager expressions. "So, where to now?" one of them asked.

Grinning, I took my dagger out of the weapons pile and shoved it into my sheath. "Something big's going on in the world of heroes. We're heading east." I settled my quiver more securely on my back. "Onward to Camp Half-Blood."


	2. A Coming Storm

**Hey, everyone! Okay, just a quick message here: I read Son of Poseidon, and of course I need to change a few things about the story now. Leo is dating Hazel Cortez, and the Roman camp's name is actually Camp Jupiter. So…yeah. That's all. Read, love (hopefully) and review!**

The sun was shining, the sky was cloudless, and the screams of campers on the climbing wall could be heard even from the cabin wing. By the sound of it, someone had just about fallen into the lava pit. Hopefully the satyrs had managed to catch the poor kid in time.

A soft breeze blew in through the open door of the Poseidon cabin, flooding the stone building with the scent of salt water. I looked over my shoulder at the massive form of my half-brother Tyson, still sleeping even though it was almost time for lunch.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain. You in here?"

I turned towards the door. Annabeth stood on the porch outside the cabin, her curly blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. The magic Yankees camp she always wore stuck out of her back pocket, and her bronze knife was strapped to her right arm. She was smiling in a way that made my heart skip a few beats.

"Here," I answered, returning her smile. "Sleep well?"

"Not really. I was up late reading."

Well, no surprises there. Annabeth had about a dozen books on the go at the same time, and there just weren't enough hours in a day for her to read them all.

She stretched and yawned. "Grover got back last night, by the way. Apparently his mission in the Gulf of Mexico went well."

Grover had been traveling the country for the past few years, spreading the word of Pan and rallying the rest of the satyrs. Whenever something really bad happened - an environmental disaster like an earthquake or tornado - they all gathered to help out. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico had brought almost every satyr on the continent down south to clean things up.

I grabbed my lethal ball-point pen, Riptide, off my beside table and shoved it into my pocket. "Okay. Let's go."

It was beautiful outside. The warm weather had convinced the Demeter kids that their cabin needed redecorating, and Katie and Miranda Gardner were making roses grow on the grass roof. The Apollo kids were playing an extremely physical basketball game with the Ares campers. Despite the Apollo kid's wickedly awesome aim, the Ares kids were absolutely enormous and several of Apollo's children lay gasping for breath on the pavement. I figured the infirmary would have several more occupants by the end of the day.

The Hermes kids, headed, of course, by Travis and Connor Stoll, were putting whoopee cushions on all the benches in the dining pavilion, so I made a mental note to check my seat before I sat down to lunch. The _clang-clang-clang_ coming from the forges told me that the Hephaestus kids were up and about, but their senior counselor was sitting on a rock in front of the canoe lake, looking despondent, and I knew why. Leo Valdez had been steadily - and when I say steadily, I mean _steadily_ - dating Reyna Cortez from Portus Aquilae, who'd left for San Francisco a couple days ago. You could tell that he was really depressed because he didn't even glance at the troupe of Aphrodite girls sitting by the hearth. He didn't look up when they started to giggle, which was weird, because I definitely did. Those daughters of Aphrodite sure can squeal.

And after looking around for a moment, I groaned when I saw who they were squealing about.

Nico di Angelo was striding across the cabin wing, wearing a white t-shirt and jeans, his black Stygian iron sword swinging at his side. Judging from the sweat soaking the front of his shirt, he'd just come from weapons practice.

Now, I don't want to sound weird or anything, but I could definitely see what the Aphrodite girls were getting so excited about. Nico had grown up a lot in the past few years, in more ways than one. He was taller than me now, and seriously enormous. His skin had paled, his black hair had gotten longer, and he was one of the best swordsmen the camp had seen in a long time. People always came to watch when he and I sparred, which felt kind of strange, but it sure was fun to duel him.

His personality had changed a lot too. Nico wasn't _quiet_, exactly - he just didn't talk to other people too much. _Reserved_ might have been a better word. He didn't smile very much, and I'd only ever seen him laugh once since his sister died. Fortunately, one of the Iris kids had managed to take a picture of that momentous occasion, and the photograph was now hanging in Chiron's office.

Anyway. Back to why the Aphrodite kids were giggling. I'd heard a lot of the female campers talking about Nico a lot. A lot of them kept saying that they thought he was the best-looking dude in the whole camp. Obviously I'm not the best judge of male looks, but I did know that it was super weird to see girls lusting after the boy who'd been a Mythomagic-playing ten-year-old when I'd met him for the first time.

Nico stopped at the edge of the canoe lake, and sat down on the rock next to Leo. They'd struck up an unlikely friendship before the seven of us sailed to Greece, and I still couldn't figure out what had drawn them together. But even though they were way different, Nico and Leo were close almost to the point of brotherhood.

Annabeth smiled when she saw them. "Good for Nico. Leo looks like he could really use some cheering up."

I nodded. "Piper too. Although she's been handling it a little better than Leo has."

As if on cue, Piper McLean marched up to the girls from her cabin and pointed towards the stables. "Come on, guys. We've got pegasus riding in five minutes."

Her cabin groaned, but Piper was pretty insistent, and the Aphrodite cabin was up and away to the stables within a minute.

Annabeth shrugged. "At least they'll all get to see each other at the end of the month. I think Piper and Jason can wait that long." Then she smiled. "Leo, however, I'm not too sure about."

We walked across the strawberry fields, saying hi to Castor and Cleo, Dionysus's two kids. Castor's twin brother, Pollux, had died in the Battle of the Labyrinth, but he'd gotten a lot happier when Cleo arrived at the camp a few years later. Now the two of them were practically joined at the hip.

"Hey, Percy!" Cleo said, her bright violet eyes - just like her dad's - energetic. "Hi, Annabeth!"

"Going to visit Grover?" Castor asked, in a slightly calmer tone.

"Yeah, do you know where he is?"

Castor pointed towards the forest, in the general direction of Zeus's fist. "He was rushing off to find Juniper when I saw him last."

"Be careful you don't disturb them," Cleo said, grinning wickedly. I tried to ignore the mental image those words put in my mind.

"Awesome, thanks," Annabeth said. "See you later!"

We left then - skirting around the edge of the forest so we wouldn't get eaten by some form of giant bug or bear or wolf - until we got to Zeus's fist. Juniper the wood nymph and Grover, my best friend and favourite barnyard animal, were sitting on the lowest collection of rocks, hand in hand.

"Hey, Grover!" I yelled, starting to run towards him. Grover jumped, looked around, and finally saw me.

"Perrrrrrcy!" he bleated. He leaped off of his perch on the rocks and the two of us man-hugged. "Annabeth! How are things?"

"Peaceful, for once," Annabeth answered, hugging him too. "How's the Gulf of Mexico?"

Grover's smile faded for a moment. "A little better, but there's still a lot of work to be done. But I don't want to think about that now." He ran a hand through his wildly curly hair. "It feels so good to be home! How is everybody?"

I held up my hands and put down a finger every time I said someone's name. "Piper's okay, Leo's depressed, Clarisse is on her third electric spear after Butch broke the last one, Katie and Travis are still arguing, and a couple Apollo kids came close to impaling Nyssa from the Hephaestus cabin a few days ago."

"Sounds like another typical day at camp," Grover said contentedly. Then his eyes slid past me and stared at a place just over my right shoulder. "Nico?"  
>"Nico's fine too," I told him.<p>

He nodded. "I know. I was only wondering why he's running towards us."

I turned around, and sure enough, Nico was jogging through the trees and coming to a slow stop right at the foot of Zeus's fist. He clapped hands with Grover - he wasn't smiling, but his eyes were happy. "Good to see you, man."

"You too, Nico," Grover said. The two of them had always liked each other a lot, ever since Nico first came to the camp and Grover had shown him around. After that, the three of us had sort of adopted him as our protégé. I think that's French for "young charge" or something like that.

"Listen, I came down to say that Chiron wants all four of us down at the Big House," Nico told us. "Chiron got an Iris-message from Thalia last night. Apparently the Hunters are coming to stay for a while."

"Awesome!" I said.

Grover nodded enthusiastically. "We get to see Thalia again!"

Only Annabeth looked a little troubled. "Why, though? The Hunters almost never settle down in one place for more than a few days."

"Oh, come on, Annabeth," Grover complained. "Get excited! Thalia's going to be here soon!"

Annabeth shook her head and addressed Nico. "Did she say anything else in her message?"

"Chiron only told me that the Hunters were coming, and he needed to talk to all the senior counselors."

I flicked Riptide between my fingers. Something about this just didn't feel right.

"Okay, then," I finally said. "Let's get going."

We made our way back to the Big House, meeting several of the senior counselors as we walked. Clarisse stared me down and muttered "punk" so she must have been in a good mood. Piper met us in the pavilion, smiling and smelling a lot like horses. And it took three of us - me, Nico and Annabeth - to get Clovis out of bed and drag him to the Big House. But we did get there eventually.

Once we'd all settled around the ping-pong table, Seymour the leopard growled at all the senior counselors to remind us that it was feeding time. So Astrid from the Hestia cabin got out the Snausages and started tossing them to the giant cat's head.

Chiron and Mr. D. came in a few minutes later. Mr D. clapped his hands together. "All right, you brats! I mean, listen up, heroes! Chiron has something very important to tell you."

Chiron gave Mr. D. a reproving glance before speaking. "Mr. D. is right. Thalia called this morning on Iris-message and said that she and the Hunters will be coming to stay for a while."

Several of the counselors smiled and high-fived each other. A lot of them had sisters or friends who were Hunters.

"She also said that she'd talked to Camp Jupiter -" Here he stopped and smiled, because the attention levels of the counselors had gone up about three hundred percent. "-and she's asked all your Roman friends to come back. They'll be here in about three days."

The excited chatter got a lot louder after that. Only Piper, who should have been leaping for joy at the chance to see her boyfriend again, frowned. "Why, though? They were just here."

Chiron shook his head. "That was the second part of the message. Thalia thinks that trouble is coming for the children of the gods, and she wants us all to be in one place when it comes."

Silence fell again very quickly. That did not sound good.

"Be on your guard, everyone," Chiron warned. "I think you're all free to go. Mr. D., anything to say?"

"Hmm?" said Mr. D., looking up from his copy of _Winemakers Monthly._ "Yes, yes, the safety of the camp is the most important thing."

Chiron sighed. "Well, that was to be expected. Off you go to afternoon activities."

We all emerged into the bright sunlight. A lot of the kids looked more relaxed now that they were out in the light, but I wasn't among that number. I stared out over at the lake, memorizing the look of my camp.

It was beautiful, bright, the perfect place.

And peaceful.

But somehow, I doubted it would stay that way for much longer.


	3. Hero's Escape

**Hi, everyone! I was really glad you all liked this story so much! This'll be a short chapter - sorry! - but an essential one. **

** It also might be a while before I update again - you have no idea how insane school is right now. But I promise to hurry up and finish my assignments, because let's face it, Fanfiction is way more important. Remember to review!**

I ran.

There was a stitch in my side, a throbbing pain in both my legs, and I could barely breath, but I kept running. That giant black thing at my back would catch me if I stopped.

I cast my gaze around, looking for any sign of a large pine tree surrounded by a golden aura. That was the marker the dude with the beard had shown me in my dream. He said if I could get there, I'd be safe.

"And to keep you safe along the way -" He reached into his long, super old-fashioned white robes and took out a long, bronze-coloured chain, " - you have this."

The man reached out and slid the chain gently over my head. It felt smooth and light against the skin of my collarbone, but there was one fairly obvious problem here. "How is this going to protect me?" I asked. My voice echoed, although I couldn't understand why. As near as I could figure, we were standing in a cloud bank, because all I could see was fog.

Without answering, the man reached over and snapped the chain from my neck. It broke easily, but instead of falling from his hand, the broken ends twisted to form an odd shape, then connected again. As I watched, the necklace _grew_ to form a long, gleaming bronze sword.

"Sweet Mother of -" I jumped back as the point swerved dangerously close to my shoulder. "What -?"

The man shook his head. "Do not ask me for an explanation. That would take time you no longer have." He touched the point of the bronze sword lightly to my collarbone. I flinched, but the sword shrank back into a necklace the moment it touched my skin and linked itself around my neck.

"Its name is Levanter," the man explained. "And that is all I can tell you until you get to Camp Half-Blood."

"Wait a minute!" I said. "What's Camp Half-Blood?"

But the bearded dude's form was fading. The last thing he said to me was, "Run now, my hero."

And then I woke up to my mother screaming that there was a giant dog trying to break down our door.

I was wearing the necklace. I didn't take it off the whole way to New York state, except if you count the times I used it to destroy the things that tried to kill me.

A growl coming from somewhere in the darkness jolted my thoughts back into focus. I ran harder, tasting blood in my mouth as I bit down on my lip.

The growl came again, but closer this time. I yanked on my necklace, and Levanter grew in my hand. I braced myself for a fight. The giant dog that had followed me ever since I left home was gaining fast.

Then, a giant pine tree appeared in my line of sight, on top of a huge hill. Hope leaped in my chest. This was it! Maybe I could make it!

But, right at the top of the hill, only metres from the tree, I learned how wrong I was. The dog _jumped_ right over me, coming to a stop just in front of the tree. The giant stupid monster was the only thing standing in between me and safety.

I squared my shoulders and raised Levanter. "You want some, mutt? Then keep coming."

The dog kept growling. Obviously, I hadn't scared it at all. That was not encouraging.

After one more moment of silence, the dog bunched its muscles and sprang at me. I let loose a very heroic yell of surprise and rolled out of the way, just in time to see an enormous black paw sweeping out of the air and connecting with my side. And believe me, it was _incredibly_ painful.

I flew through the air and collided with another tree, then fell to the ground and hit my head on something hard. Levanter was flung away on impact and landed a few feet from where I lay, immobile, on the ground.

The giant black dog - and when I say giant, I mean the size of a large elephant giant - loomed over me. I could swear it was grinning, and not in the cute way that dogs do. In the way that said _I'm going to eat you and then chew on your bones. _

My fingers searched the ground wildly.

The dog opened its jaws wide - and my fingers closed on my sword.

I swung Levanter upwards and slashed the giant thing across the maw. It reared back, roaring, then dropped to the ground and dissolved into dust.

There was silence for a few moments. I was struggling to stay conscious when I realized that there were people shouting in the distance.

But I couldn't keep my eyes open long enough to see who'd been shouting. The pain in my head intensified, and everything went black.


	4. A New Hero

**Hey, everyone! Just a heads up: most of the chapters in BoL are going to be of varying length. So now, if you complain about the chapters being too short, you can't say I didn't warn you!**

** You know what makes me happy? For everyone who guessed _reviews_, you're right! Hope you like the chapter!**

The only camper left on duty, of course, was me. Mitchell from Aphrodite had left a couple minutes ago, right after he'd fallen asleep and almost impaled himself on his own sword.

"You sure you'll be okay, Nico?" he'd asked, stifling a giant yawn.

I gave him a look. "I'm the son of Hades. I'm not likely to be afraid of the dark."

"There is that." He finally let loose the yawn he'd been holding back.

"Go to bed, Mitch. I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay, okay. Night, Nico…" He drifted back off towards the camp, leaving me alone on Half-Blood Hill. I didn't mind, though. Finally, there was time to enjoy silence, and the gods knew that there was barely ever any of _that_ at happening at Camp Half-Blood.

I sat down on the hill about a hundred feet from Thalia's pine, and drew out my sword, Bianca. The black blade glowed faintly in the darkness, shedding light on the ground a few feet in front of me. When my dad had given this sword to me the first time I'd ever met him, I remember thinking _when will I ever have to use this?_ But I learned pretty quickly that demigods have to use swords rather a lot - usually to keep themselves from getting slashed to bits by some monster.

As I stared out into the woods surrounding Half-Blood Hill, I started to realize why Mitchell had dozed off. The night was dark, quiet and calm, with nothing around to disturb the peace. I rested my back against a tree and was just starting to relax when something large and black jumped into my senses.

Being the son of Hades, I know when a creature of the Underworld appears anywhere near me. And this particular creature - a hellhound - was _very_ near to me. And a hellhound within a mile of the camp was major league cause for worry.

I jumped to my feet and looked down the hill. Hellhounds are large and completely impossible to mistake for anything else, so it was easy enough to find. But what really surprised me was that there was someone else at the bottom of the hill - running from the hellhound.

She was obviously a girl, dark-haired and wild-eyed. In her hand was a long, glowing blade that I recognized instantly as Celestial bronze. That made her a demigod, but I was sure I'd never seen this girl before. So where the heck had she gotten the sword from?

Before I could do anything to help, the hellhound picked up one enormous paw and batted her away, so hard she hit the side of a tree with enough force to make me wince. It stood over her as she lay gasping for breath on the ground, and just as it opened its jaws to take a giant bite out of her, she grabbed the sword from where it had fallen and stabbed it into the hellhound's mouth.

At this point, some of my common sense returned, and I sprinted back to the camp's entrance. "Hey! Someone hurry up and get over here! We've got trouble!"

Seconds later, Leo came hurtling out of the forges, followed by Nyssa and Jake Mason. "What's happening?" he asked.

"Hellhound," I explained. "It was chasing someone - she stabbed it -"

They didn't need any further explanation. We ran together onto the crest of the hill. The girl was still lying next to Thalia's pine, but she wasn't moving. The hellhound was gone - her shot to its mouth must have sent it back to Tartarus.

After stumbling down the hill, Leo and I knelt by the girl's side. "Dang," Leo whispered. "Someone seriously needs to introduce this girl to a hospital."

I nodded in agreement. The girl's face was bruised all over, and what we could see of her arms and legs under her sweatshirt and jeans were scratched and bleeding. I put my fingers to her neck - thank Hades, she had a strong pulse. She was alive, but injured and unconscious.

Leo turned to Nyssa and Jake. "Book it to the Poseidon and Athena cabins. Percy and Annabeth need to know about this."

The two of them nodded and ran back to the entrance, leaving me and Leo alone with the new girl. He bent down and picked up her sword.

"This is Celestial bronze," he said aloud. "So how could she have gotten it?"

I shook my head, my eyes on the girl's face. Something about her expression seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn't have placed what it was.

"It's magical," Leo said suddenly. "But how - ah."

He put the sword across her body so that the point touched her collarbone. Instantly it shrank into a delicate bronze chain, then the ends slid to connect themselves around her neck.

"Holy Hades," he said. "Only a god could have given that to her. Most likely -"

"Her godly parent," I finished. Leo nodded.

"Dude, we'd better take her back."

I leaned down to pick her up, then stopped. "I don't know if I should move her."

Leo snorted. "Don't look at me. I definitely can't lift her, so it's going to have to be you."

"That's not really what I meant."

"Look at her, Nico. She needs ambrosia _right freaking now."_

I looked at her. I had to agree.

Bending down, I put one hand under her knees and another gently on the small of her back, then lifted her up into my arms. She was extremely light - too light. I could feel every one of her ribs beneath my fingers; she obviously hadn't eaten well in weeks.

"I should take a picture," Leo joked as we climbed the hill and entered the camp. "Nico di Angelo, the white knight, rescuing a damsel in distress."

"More like a black knight," I answered, grinning. "And there's no way this girl is _any_ kind of damsel in distress."

Leo opened his mouth to answer, but our weird argument was interrupted by Percy, who ran up to us looking like he'd just rolled out of bed. Which, when I think about it, he probably had.

Percy rubbed his eyes and stared down at the girl in my arms. "Whoa. Who's she?"

"A demigod," I answered. "But beyond that, we have no idea. She killed a hellhound, though, and she used -" I lifted the chain on her neck, " - this."

Percy put one hand on the girl's forehead, then looked up as Annabeth appeared beside him. "She's definitely a demigod. What do you think, claimed or no?"

Annabeth shook her head. "She's unclaimed, I can feel it. And Greek, so she belongs here."

"Powerful, too," Percy nodded. "So she'll probably be claimed tomorrow at the campfire."

"Then the only thing to do is wait until she wakes up. She looks like she could really use a good rest. Some food too," Annabeth replied, taking in the girl's gaunt and shadowed face.

So about ten minutes later, the girl was wrapped in warm blankets on an unoccupied bed in the infirmary. A little bit of colour had come back into her cheeks after Annabeth had dripped some nectar into her mouth, and she was looking better every minute Leo and I watched her. We'd told Argus to go get some sleep - okay, since he doesn't actually _sleep_, we'll say he went to get some _rest_ - and that we would watch her until morning.

Leo, though, I wasn't too sure about. He looked like he would barely be able to make it another hour, let alone till dawn. I don't sleep very well sometimes, so it doesn't really affect me if I go one night without crashing. But Leo, as he put it, needed his beauty sleep.

"This is the second time I've had to say this to someone tonight," I sighed. "Leo, go back to bed. If you're dead on your feet when the Romans come, we're not going to make much of an impression."

"Dude, I got this," he said dreamily. "They'll never know I didn't get any sleep. I'm just that good."

I stifled a laugh. "I'm sure you are. But you want to look well-rested for Reyna, don't you?"

Leo stopped and considered. "Well…maybe you're right. Wouldn't want her to worry about me." He rose from his seat on the edge of the girl's bed and waved goodnight. "You keep an eye on her, Nico. Just in case she wanders off."

I snorted. He was so out of it. "I'll do that."

"All right. Talk to you in the morning…" Leo stumbled out the door, almost walking straight into a brazier. I watched from the window - just to make sure he didn't do anything to injure himself - until he tripped into the Hephaestus cabin. Then I returned to the girl's side.

I sat down on the bed and watched her for a while. Her breathing was deep and even, and she looked exhausted. I guessed that this was probably the most relaxing she'd done in a long time. Her pixieish face had been wiped of bruises from the nectar, so the freckles splashed across the bridge of her nose were plainly visible. Pale skin betrayed the fact that she was probably from somewhere in the north, and dark brown hair was splayed across the pillow behind her.

I frowned. She looked even more familiar now than she had before, but I still couldn't remember why. As the hours passed, it didn't get any clearer, and by dawn I was completely stumped.

But by that time, I wasn't worrying about how familiar she looked. Because just as the sun broke over the horizon, the girl stirred and her eyelashes began to flutter. As I watched and waited, a small moan escaped her. And as the first rays of light touched the camp, the girl opened her eyes.


	5. United we Stand

** Okay, so I have a lot of homework to do, but I've completely blown it off this weekend so I can write some new chapters. Procrastinate now! Yeah, don't tell my parents.**

** By the way, I'm writing this in the middle of a huge storm. It's great inspiration! The lightning is absolutely incredible, but my dog is freaking out over the thunder.**

I was shaken awake for the second time in twelve hours by enormous, forge-roughened hands. The first time, it was by Jake Mason, telling me that there was an injured demigod at the gates of the camp. The second time, it was my little brother Tyson telling me that there was a giant ship coming up Long Island Sound.

"There's a _what?_" I yelled, sitting bolt upright in bed.

"A ship over the lake, brother," Tyson said, frowning. "You do not look very well."

Understandable, I suppose. Between late night weapons practice, that new demigod and now this, I'd barely gotten any sleep. "Don't worry about it. Why is there a ship over the lake?"

Tyson's frown deepened. "It is the Roman's ship. Are you sure you are not sick?"

Dang, I'd completely forgotten that the Romans were supposed to be coming today. I just hadn't expected them to arrive at such an ungodly hour. "What are they doing here so early?"

"The captain says they made good time. Ella is here, you must come see!"

"Okay, buddy, I'm coming." I groaned as I hoisted myself out of bed. My limbs were aching; Annabeth had managed to get in a few good thwacks with her knife while we were practicing yesterday. I guess dating doesn't mean you go easy on someone.

Outside, the sun had just risen and the Roman ship was just lowering its gangplank. But before it could touch the bank of the lake, something large and winged flew off and soared towards Tyson. My little brother broke into a huge grin as Ella the harpy came out of the sky and settled on his shoulder.

The wooden gangplank settled on the shore with a dull _thunk_. I looked over in time to see a black-haired girl wearing a purple shirt come streaking off the ship and sprint towards the crowd of people gathered at the hearth. This must have been Reyna, because when Leo - who was stoking the fireplace with flames from his own hand - looked up and saw her, a huge grin spread over his face and he ran towards her. They slammed into each other with enough force to make me wince, but neither of them seemed to care. They were too wrapped up in each other - almost literally.

Jason was next off after Reyna. His eyes immediately went to Piper, who'd been waiting for him on the shore. A split second later, she was hurtling into his arms and being picked up and swung around. I looked away as he kissed her forehead, trying to give them some privacy.

Someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around and saw Annabeth, who was grinning as she looked over at Leo and Reyna. "You'd think they'd been separated for months instead of just days."

I grinned back, and intertwined my fingers with hers. "If I remember right, we were exactly the same when you came to Camp Jupiter."

"That was different. You were kidnapped and gone for almost a year, and I had no idea if you'd even remember me or not."

"Special circumstances?" I teased.

"Of course. Oh, hey!" She looked over at the crowd milling around on the lakeshore, raised the hand that wasn't in mine, and waved. "Frank! Hazel!"

Two teenagers, a fourteen-year-old girl and a seventeen-year-old boy, fought through the horde of demigods towards us. The girl was small, dark and curly-haired, and the boy was tall, stocky and wearing the centurion's mark. They were holding hands, like me and Annabeth, and beaming at us.

"Percy!" yelled Frank Zhang, giving me a bro hug. Bro hugs are a hundred times more manly than real hugs, so there's no need to feel embarrassed accepting one. Hazel kissed my cheek and squeezed Annabeth so hard she groaned.

"It's so good to see you!" Hazel squealed.

"We were really upset when we heard we had to miss the last visit," Frank said.

Frank and Hazel had been questing the last time the Romans had come to New York. A lost gold laurel wreath or something like that.

"You're here now, and that's all that matters," Annabeth said warmly. She'd always liked Hazel, ever since she'd saved the entire seven kids of the prophecy from a chimaera using her sweet daughter-of-Hades powers.

"Just in time, too," I said. "We got a message from Thalia a few nights ago. She wanted us all together."

"Jason got the message too," said Frank, pointing down to where Jason was still hugging Piper. "He said we needed to get together immediately. What's the problem?"

I shrugged. "Nothing so far. But it can't hurt to be united, right?"

Frank nodded, and Hazel had just opened her mouth to reply when someone tapped my shoulder. I whirled around to see Argus watching me through brown, blue, and green eyes - all over his body.

I could guess what his visit was about. "The new demigod is awake, isn't she?"

He nodded, then pointed towards the Hades cabin. That meant Nico was with her.

"Okay," I said, putting a hand on Riptide. "Let's go meet the new girl."


	6. Safe Haven

** Halloween's coming up, and though I'm too old to go out trick-or-treating - subtle hint on my age there - my friends and I all decided to go as the characters from Alice in Wonderland for our school thing. I'm the Queen of Hearts. I wanted to just go as myself, but that might be _too_ scary.**

** This is more of a dialogue chapter, but it is important, I promise!**

** Happy Halloween! **

There was pain coursing through every vein in my body, and I felt like one giant bruise. A haze of pain covered my eyes as I tried to open them, and I let out a small moan.

Then I remembered the giant dog.

I blinked my eyes open for real this time, looking around the small room someone had put me in. Early morning sunlight streamed in through the windows, making me blink. Someone had wrapped me in soft blankets. The room itself was quiet, but if I listened hard, I could just make out the sounds of kids shouting and laughing in the distance. And there was someone sitting on the edge of my bed.

I blinked again, certain that what I was seeing was a dream. Gorgeous boys don't normally visit me on my sickbed - they always turn out to be looking for the person in the bed next to mine.

Okay, I'll put my sarcasm aside now.

But this dude was clearly looking at me.

I wondered what I'd done to deserve that. I mean, I'm not exactly a model citizen.

But then again, there were many other more pressing issues at hand.

Where was I?

I tried to get up out of bed, but the gorgeous boy put a hand on my shoulder and gently pushed me back down. "You might not want to get up just yet," he told me. "We think you're recovering from a concussion."  
>"Oh, lovely," I groaned. "What the heck happened?"<p>

"You killed a hellhound," he said. I thought I heard the faintest trace of admiration in his voice, even though I had no idea what a hellhound was. "Using this."

He reached towards my neck and tapped my bronze chain.

"Oh, yeah," I said. "That's Levanter."

He nodded. "And who are you?"

I paused for a moment. Then I figured that if I'd been battling things called hellhounds, telling this dude my name was probably the safest thing I'd done in several weeks.

"Megan Muse."

"Cool. I'm Nico di Angelo."

Nico di Angelo turned towards the door of what I guessed was the infirmary. "Hey, Argus?"

An enormous surfer dude with blonde hair and _eyes all over his body_ showed up in the doorway. I sucked in a breath, and every one of his hundred eyes flicked towards me. The dude named Argus smiled at me, and I gave him a rather uncertain smile in return.

"Would you mind finding Percy and Annabeth for me?" Nico asked. "I would guess they're welcoming the Romans down at the docks."

Argus nodded, then silently left the room, leaving me and Nico alone. He watched me silently for a moment, a small frown on my face. Against my better intentions, I knew I was blushing.

"What is it?" I asked, trying to break the silence.

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head. "So where'd you get the sword?"

Though I was wary of sounding insane, I told him. "In a dream."

He didn't look surprised. "Demigods have weird dreams like that a lot," he explained. "Makes it completely impossible to get any sleep. Anyways, go on."

"Some bearded dude wearing a college toga put this around my neck and told me to run -" I told him, " - and I was wearing it when I woke up. And there also happened to be a hellhound trying to break into our house. I left home a few minutes later."

"Where are you from?"

"Maine."

His eyebrows raised. "You walked all the way from Maine to New York?"

"More like ran. It took three whole weeks."

Nico looked like he wanted to say something else, but instead changed the topic. "The man who gave you the necklace. Who was he?"

"No idea."

"What did he look like?"

I stopped, trying to remember, but the details were hazy. "The only thing I know is that he had a beard."

"That, unfortunately, doesn't really narrow it down," he said, frowning again. "I guess we'll just have to wait until you get claimed tonight."

"Claimed?" I asked. I was beginning to get really confused.

Nico squared his shoulders like he was bracing himself for something. "This is going to sound weird and possibly crazy, but the reason you're here is because you're a demigod."

My jaw dropped slightly. "Demigod as in the half-blood child of a mortal and a god?"

Nico cocked his head to one side, considering. "You know, I think you and my friend Annabeth would really get along well. She's a daughter of Athena - you'll meet her in a few minutes." Then he seemed to realize I was going into shock. "But yeah, you're right. The man who gave you the necklace was most likely your godly parent."

I lay back on the bed, barely hearing what the hot dude had to say. Me, a demigod. The toga dude, my father. I was reeling.

But deep down, I knew it made sense. I'd never known my dad. I'd had weird dreams my entire life. Monsters and creepy things had always followed me. And I'd been able to do…stuff.

"You're a demigod too, then," I croaked out, finding my voice. "Whose kid are you?"

"I'm the son of Hades," he answered. Deep, dark eyes searched my face for a reaction. Maybe he thought I'd find it creepy that he was the son of the god of dead things.

"That's pretty awesome," I told him, and I meant it. "Does that mean you visit the Underworld?"

Nico looked surprised, but a tiny bit gratified. "On a regular basis. My dad set a whole wing aside for his kids in his castle."

"Then you've probably met Persephone," I said, grimacing sympathetically. "That must have been awkward."  
>He smiled slightly. "You have no idea. I try not to look her in the eye." He considered me again, as though I was a puzzle he couldn't put together. "You're handling this very calmly."<p>

I shrugged. "Sure, it's completely weird and I am constantly doing _this -_" I pinched myself, " - to make sure it's not all a dream, but it does make sense. And it's pretty freaking cool." I said thoughtfully.

"I think I should warn you it's not always cool," he said with grim amusement. "The dreams and the monsters kind of suck, to start with."

I opened my mouth to ask if the monsters would still attack me now that I was obviously somewhere safe when the door opened again. Two teenagers, a girl and a boy, walked in and came to stand at the end of my bed. The girl was tall, with blond curly hair and gray eyes, and the boy had slightly messy black hair and sea-green eyes.

"Hey," said the boy. "How do you feel?"

"Like I've been chewed, swallowed, then spit out," I answered. "But you know, I'm doing okay. What about you?"

Both of them smiled. "I'm Annabeth Chase -" the girl said, then gestured to the boy, " - and this is Percy Jackson."

"It's nice to see you awake," Percy Jackson said. The way the two of them finished each other's sentences made me think that they knew each other really well - and were probably dating. When their hands drifted towards each other, almost subconsciously, while we were talking, my suspicions were confirmed. "What's your name?"

"I'm Megan Muse," I told them. "Where am I?"

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Megan Muse," Percy said with a warm smile. "I think you'll really like it here, once you get over the initial craziness."

"I don't think you'll exactly see us at our best today," Annabeth warned me. "Our friends from out west arrived this morning, and will probably be staying for a while."

I cast a side glance over at Nico. "Friends from out west?"

"Roman demigods," he explained. "They're a…recent discovery. It's a very long story."

"Do you know the old Greek myths, Megan?" Annabeth asked.

I nodded. "I used to spend hours reading them." And now, I felt like I was living one.

"Well, they're all actually true. Theseus, Hercules, Perseus: every hero existed and every quest happened. The gods, too - they existed then and they still exist now."

"And if we're not mistaken - and Annabeth's usually not - then you're a child of one of those gods," Percy told me.

"There's a film we normally show new campers," Nico explained. "The same one _I_ saw. But the entire camp is pretty busy with the Romans, so I don't think there's much time. Besides," he said, casting glances at my bruised form. "I wouldn't want to risk moving you again."

"So…yeah," Percy shrugged, laughing. "That's about all we got. Any questions?"

There were too many questions, and I didn't know which ones I was supposed to ask. So I settled for, "Which god do you think is my dad?"

Annabeth considered me carefully. "I'd say Apollo, maybe. You into poetry?"

"Sort of," I told her. Apollo, if I remembered right, was the god of music and light, among other things. "I like singing. That could work."

"I would guess Hermes," Percy suggested. "You look a little like Travis and Connor Stoll - those are two of Hermes' kids," he explained to me.

"If her mom was the Olympian, it would most definitely be Athena." Nico's dark eyes were sparkling faintly, and his tone held the barest trace of a laugh. Sure, di Angelo, tease the concussed unclaimed new girl. "She gave me the textbook definition of a demigod a while back. Like she'd memorized her seventh grade history outline."

I saw Percy give Nico an incredulous glance, eyebrows almost disappearing into his hair. I wondered why; the thought that I could have been Athena's kid wasn't _that _improbable. Reading was my life, and I loved writing too.

Annabeth looked pretty surprised too, but she recovered faster than Percy did. "I'm an Athena demigod myself. Percy's a son of Poseidon, and Nico's a Hades kid."

"My half-sister's at camp right now, actually," Nico explained. "Hazel Levesque. She's a Roman demigod."

"Sweet," I answered, stretching out my arms and sitting up. "When can I get out of bed and actually _meet _these kids?"

Nico looked doubtful, but Annabeth leaned over and put a hand on my forehead. "Do you feel sick? Dizzy, anything at all?"

"A little achy, but other than that I'm fine." And it was true. The only thing that was really bothering me right now was impatience. I wanted to get out and see the safe haven the bearded dude - scratch that, my _dad_ - had led me to.

"Then you should be okay. Nico, would you mind showing her around?" Percy asked. "We'd do it ourselves, but the Romans are sort of taking over out there."

"Nah, it's no problem. I'll do it," Nico said. "Just so long as you promise not to fall down on me again."

"I'll let you know if I feel the sudden urge to collapse," I told him, rolling my eyes. "Can we go now?"

"Sure, come on." Nico reached down and pulled me to a sitting position with one hand, the mounds of blankets falling away. My battered green Chuck Taylors were sitting at the edge of my bed; I shoved them onto my feet and quickly laced them up.

I was about to follow Nico out the door when Annabeth put one hand on my arm and stopped me. Her gaze bored into my face as though trying to force all my secrets out of me telepathically.

"What is it?" I asked, frowning.

Annabeth shook her head. "You look…very familiar."

"Good familiar or bad familiar?"

"I'm not sure." She was frowning now too, and there was silence in the infirmary for a few seconds.

Then Percy put a hand on her shoulder. "It'll come to you, probably in the middle of the night. We should go talk to Jason and Reyna."

Annabeth nodded absently, then turned reluctantly towards the door. "All right. We'll see you later, you two."

"Good luck with the Romans," Nico called, then Percy and Annabeth left. We were alone again.

Carefully I put my feet on the floor, and felt encouraged when the room didn't spin. Nico's arm hovered near mine when I took my first steps forward, probably so he could catch me if I fell on my face. When we were safely out the door and I hadn't tripped over anything, he let it drop to his side.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Megan," he said quietly. "The safe haven for Greek demigods all over the world."

I barely heard him - I was too busy staring out at the valley below me. A collection of colourful buildings of all different sizes were grouped in an omega shape around a giant hearth, which was blazing brightly. A rock climbing wall was visible over the tops of the buildings, spewing what looked like _lava_ at random times.

The sun sparkled off the surface of what I assumed was Long Island Sound, reflecting directly onto a giant warship that was docked by the water's edge. Kids routinely came running off this ship and onto the mainland, all of them around my age. The valley was flooded with them, and as I watched, more kept coming.

"Those are _all_ demigods?" I breathed.

"The Greek ones are," he explained. "Some of the Romans are descendants of demigods, but it all amounts to the same thing."

"This is very surreal," I said, gazing around the camp.

"I promise you it's all real." Nico started down the hill, watching me carefully in case I stumbled. "I'll show you the cabin wing first."

When we reached the center of the valley, Nico stopped and faced the two cabins at the head of the omega. Both were big and white, though one was slightly smaller than the other. The bigger one had columns out front, and two bronze lightning bolts flanking the door. The other had statues of peacocks with eyes that looked strangely alive on either side of the entranceway.

"Zeus and Hera?" I guessed.

"Yep," Nico sighed. "Usually both of them are unoccupied, because Hera can't have any kids, and Zeus's only child, Thalia, became a Hunter of Artemis a few years ago. They're like handmaidens of the goddess," he said, in response to my questioning look.

Then he gestured to a tall blonde kid who was making his way towards Zeus's cabin, chattering excitedly to a dark-haired girl by his side. "That's Jason Grace from Camp Jupiter. He's Jupiter's son, and -"

" - since Jupiter is the Roman form of Zeus, he stays in the Zeus cabin," I finished.

Nico nodded. "The girl was a Greek demigod - Piper McLean. She's a daughter of Aphrodite."

I wrinkled my nose slightly. In the myths I'd read about her, Aphrodite had always bothered me slightly. Too much beauty, not enough substance.

"I know what you're thinking," Nico said, smiling. "But Piper's not like that. She's very down-to-earth, and she definitely keeps her cabinmates in line."

"How do you keep track of all these kids?" I asked in wonder. "I'll forget all these names in two seconds flat."

"Let me guess: you're ADHD."

"How'd you know?" I asked, flabbergasted. Barely anybody knew I had ADHD, because I never told them. Granted, it wasn't all that hard to see; I couldn't sit still if you paid me.

"A lot of powerful demigods are. It's your battle instinct, your complete inability to focus - they keep you alive in a fight."

"Hmm," I said thoughtfully. "You know, my fifth grade teacher gave it a completely different definition, but I think I like that one a lot better."

A smile finally broke out on his face. "No one will judge you here for that. Most of the campers have some form of an attention disorder or dyslexia. Percy Jackson -" he gestured to the cabin on Zeus's right, which looked like a stone bunker, " - is one of them."

"That's Poseidon's cabin?" I peered towards the low stone building. Through the windows, I could see that tiny bronze figures were hanging from the ceiling, and catching the light - they looked like tiny seahorses.

Nico nodded. "Percy and his half-brother Tyson live there. When Tyson's not down with Poseidon, anyway."

"Where's your cabin?" I asked, looking around for one that might suit Nico.

"That one," he said, pointing towards a coal black building with a skull over the entrance and bright green torches lining the outside.

"That's awesome," I said, grinning. "I'm going to hope for Hades now."

Just then, my stomach gave a loud and very embarrassing rumble. I was suddenly reminded that I hadn't eaten anything fried in weeks.

Nico smiled. A few of his teeth actually showed this time. "I take it you're hungry."

"Well, maybe a little," I admitted, my stomach grumbling again.

A conch horn blew in the distance.

"You're in luck," Nico said. "That means lunch just started." His smile got wider. "Time to meet the rest of your extended family."


	7. Lightning Strikes

**How many of you out there take French as a school subject? Okay, I'm guessing that at least half that number absolutely hate it. I definitely do. It's rather frustrating to be told that I have great grammar in English, but horrible in French. You'd think the two situations would mirror each other, but apparently not.**

** Oh, well. Enjoy the chapter!**

I watched Megan as the two of us strode over to the dining pavilion. There was a slight limp in her step, but she walked determinedly on. The aftereffects of the concussion must have been affecting her, but she wasn't going to let it show if it killed her.

Hopefully, though, it wouldn't come to that.

Megan's eyes widened slightly as she took in the dining pavilion, swollen to twice its normal capacity. The Romans alone had filled the camp to bursting, so I had no idea what we'd do when the Hunters arrived.

"Um…where do I sit?" she asked. "I'm guessing this isn't exactly a high-school clique thing."

"Definitely not," I answered. "You sit at a table according to your godly parent - when the Romans are at camp, they sit at the table of their Greek counterpart parent. Unclaimed demigods, like you, stay at the Hermes cabin."

"Because Hermes is the god of travelers?"

I nodded. "But the Hermes table looks a little full today, so you can come sit with me and Hazel."

As if on cue, my slightly younger sister came bursting out of the crowd. Hazel Levesque beamed and threw her arms around me, nearly knocking me to the stone floor. She may have been small, but all that Legion training had made her pretty solid.

"Hey, Hazel," I grunted. It was sort of hard to talk while her arms were strangling me.

"Hi, Nico!" She pulled back and inspected me, the way my dad sometimes did when I met him in the Underworld. "You're not eating enough."

"Are you kidding me?" I asked her, feeling a smile creep onto my face. Hazel could always cheer me up. "I'm one of the biggest kids in camp."

"Clarisse is bigger than you."

"Clarisse is bigger than everyone." The smile got bigger. Hazel was a great little sister to have.

Then Hazel pulled away and saw who was at my side. "Oh, you must be the new demigod that came last night. Megan Muse?"

"That's me," Megan answered. "And you're Hazel Levesque."

Hazel beamed at Megan. "You must be starving. Come on, before the pavilion gets completely overrun with demigods."

The meal that day was incredible, as usual. Every demigod gorged themselves, but I don't think anyone in camp ate as much as Megan. By the time the meal was over, she'd consumed two steaks, five ribs, and three slices of pizza. Hazel looked over at her, amused. "I would guess you haven't eaten in a while."

"No proper meals in about three weeks," Megan answered. "Oh, wow, that was incredible."

"Good to see you're settling in," said someone. It was Percy, who had appeared suddenly at Megan's shoulder. His fingers were wrapped around Riptide, the way they always were when he got nervous, but there was a big smile on his face. "You came at the best time, I think. Everyone else is probably as confused as you are."

"It's not too bad," Megan said, looking around again. "And as long as the food is always this good, believe me, I'll be happy."

"I said something along the same lines when I first came," Percy said, looking pleased. Then he gestured to her necklace - Levanter - that she still hadn't taken off yet. "So are you any good with that thing?"

Megan cocked her head to the side, considering. "You'd have to be the judge of that. I sort of had to learn on the fly."

"Understandable. Most demigods do. But now that you're here, we'll help you develop your skills." He shrugged modestly. "I'm the counselor in charge of sword dueling, in fact. So you'll be learning from me."

"Cool," Megan said, smiling. "So the bronze weapons…they kill the monsters that they touch?"  
>"Under most circumstances," I explained. "You have to get in a good stab before they wither and die."<p>

"If you ever need practice, the woods are full of monsters. Although I don't recommend ever going in there alone," Percy added warningly. "If you ever feel the need, take someone with you. Preferably a senior counselor." Then he stopped and closed his eyes, frowning. "Oh, gods. I sound like my mom."

Megan laughed, as Percy had probably intended. He looked pleased.

"Nico, why don't you go show her around a bit more? Maybe a little activity will help heal that ankle."

So we left the pavilion, and for the rest of the day I watched as Megan was introduced to Camp Half-Blood. I showed her the climbing wall, and she helped me save a tiny Athena girl who I remembered had come to camp about a week ago. The girl - Cora - had gotten herself stuck in between two lava rivers on the highest part of the wall, and none of the satyrs could get to her. Megan and I scaled the wall and hovered on either side of Cora, waiting for an opportunity to reach over and grab her.

Megan was tensing her muscles to jump over the lava fall, but I held out my hand to stop her. "Wait. You'll get burned if you move now."

Frustration crossed her face. Despite my warnings, she reached over the burning liquid and held out her hand to Cora.

I fully expected Megan to take a dunk in the lava, but luckily a strong breeze kicked up and she was able to lean over the hot river and pull Cora out of harm's way. We returned her, blushing furiously, to the ground.

"Th-thanks," she stammered, alternating her gaze between us and the ground.

I lightly punched Megan's shoulder as we walked to the amphitheater. "Hey, nice one back there."

She blushed too. "I didn't feel like watching someone burn today. When I do, you'll know."

At the amphitheater, we found Clarisse sparring with Reyna while Leo looked on, smiling slightly. I was about to ask him why he looked so cheerful, when a frustrated scream sounded through the enormous space.

"Oh no," I muttered under my breath.

"Why's the big girl screaming?" Megan asked me, frowning slightly.

"Clarisse lost," I said grimly. "Clarisse never loses - _duck!_"

At that moment, Clarisse's electric spear - Killer or Hospitalizer or something like that, I couldn't keep track of all the names - came slicing through the air towards us. I grabbed Megan's shoulder and pulled her down beside me.

The spear struck the amphitheater wall with a resounding _thud._ It stuck there, two feet above our heads, quivering.

I looked at Megan. "You know, this kind of stuff doesn't happen to me when I come here alone. I'm beginning to think you're a bad luck charm."

She stuck her tongue out at me, then glanced at Clarisse and winced. "She doesn't look happy."

I looked over my shoulder. Clarisse was storming over to us, her expression murderous.

"That's not good," I agreed. "We'd better leave before more violence ensues."

"Ensues?" she chortled, but she followed me out of the amphitheater at a run.

At lunch, the dining pavilion was even more chaotic than it had been at breakfast, if that was possible. All the Hypnos and Somnus kids that had been napping during the morning meal were sitting at their table, occasionally dozing off and dunking their faces in their food. Megan and Clarisse met on slightly better terms as they passed each other on the way to the brazier - and by that I mean Clarisse stared stonily and muttered, "New kid."

"Regular ball of sunshine, isn't she?" Megan muttered as she returned to the Hades table. Hazel snorted into her Pepsi.

Afterwards, in the hours leading up to the campfire, the two of us passed the cabin wing several times as I continued showing her our glorious camp. Every time we did, I caught Megan staring around at the different cabins, sizing them up with her eyes. Her gaze passed over Ares, rested briefly on Artemis and Apollo, then went back to roving the omega line.

After dinner, when we went through the wing again on our way to the campfire, nervousness started to pass over her features. She finally said what I was sure had been on her mind since she arrived. "None of these cabins look like they belong to me."

Okay, now I felt a little bad.

I swung a comforting arm around her shoulders, but took it away pretty quickly. "Well, you've got to be _somebody's_ kid. Or else you probably wouldn't be here. And you've got this -" I picked up Levanter from where it was draped across her collarbone, " - to prove it."

That finally wrestled a smile of out of her. "Well, bearded toga dude," she said, looking up towards the sky and squaring her shoulders. "You left my mom and I on our own for fifteen years. You've got a lot of explaining to do."

I hid a smile. Whoever her godly parent was, I had to wonder if they'd waited so long to claim her because they were afraid of the tongue-lashing they might get.

The campfire was the same as always. The flames always reflected the camper's moods, and since there were so many of us tonight, the fire was something like twenty feet high and a bright gold colour. We did all the regular sing-alongs, which Megan joined in, smiling widely. I sang them too, although my voice was substantially deeper than hers was.

Hazel and Frank, along with Annabeth and Percy, were standing on either side of us, and Leo and Reyna joined us a little later. The flames grew almost in feet when Piper and Jason started singing along with "And the Parthenon came tumbling down". I was sure our voices could be heard across Long Island Sound, and everyone was grinning.

Yep, everything was great up until Harley from the Hephaestus cabin came running down from Half-Blood Hill, waving his arms like he was trying to signal a ship. Megan and I stopped singing immediately, but we were among the only people who noticed him. The poor kid almost had to stand in the fire to make everybody hear him.

The flames died a little as campers quieted down to listen.

"The Hunters are here!" Harley panted, still a little out of breath from his run.

The flames shot up again. Jason sprang to his feet, staring in the direction of the Big House. Percy, Grover and Annabeth were right behind him, followed by about twenty campers whose close friends and sisters had sworn loyalty to Artemis. And a few moments later, the group of silver-camo-clad Hunters broke over the ridge of Half-Blood Hill and came streaming into the camp.

Artemis's lieutenant, Thalia Grace, headed the group of thirty or so girls. She raced down the hill and was immediately crushed in a hug by Jason. I ran forward too - Thalia had been one of the first demigods I'd ever met, back when Bianca and I were still in boarding school.

I hugged her, feeling the blessing of Artemis wash over me for a few brief seconds. Her black leather jacket was cold; I guessed that the Hunters had been up North for the past little while. She laughed in my ear. "How're you doing, Nico?"

"Not bad, can't complain." I smiled as she looked me up and down; it was the exact same thing Hazel had done this morning.

Everyone surrounded her, and for a few seconds I couldn't hear a thing for all the chatter. After a couple seconds, Thalia detached herself and gently pushed through the crowd. "Okay, okay, let me see my camp again -"

The crowd of demigods surrounding her moved aside, and I could see Megan staring at Thalia with an odd expression on her face. Thalia's eyes traveled over the fireplace, the heroes sitting around it, and finally they returned Megan's gaze.

She gasped. Audibly.

Quickly, Thalia moved towards Megan, reaching up a hand to touch her shoulder. "Who are you?"

Megan stared back at her. "Who are _you?_"

"Thalia Grace, but that's not important. I saw you. You were the one I dreamed -"

Thalia broke off midsentence. In fact, pretty much everyone stopped talking. We were all stunned into silence.

Because, at that moment, a sky-blue hologram shot through with streaks of gold in the shape of a lightning bolt formed over Megan's head.

Chiron sank to his knees. All the campers, Greek and Roman alike, followed his example, still looking shocked.

"All hail Megan Muse, daughter of Zeus, Lord of the Universe, god of lightning."


End file.
